Oscar Nominees - Suprises and Snubs

It's the President's speech taking precedence this evening, but this morning was all about The King's Speech, snagging 12 Oscar nominations--the most of any film this year--including best picture. My predictions were pretty good this year. I was spot on for actor, actress, supporting actress, cinematography, and animated feature, and one away for picture. Here are my biggest surprises and snubs:

Surprise: A strong showing for 127 Hours. I thought this film would get 3 nominations, but it ended up with 6, including adapted screenplay, score and editing.

Snub: Black Swan received far fewer nominations than I thought it would--just 5, whereas I thought it would get 10. I found the film's artistry and sound to be quite important in creating the environment for telling this chilling story, so I expected it would get nods in categories like art direction and sound, but apparently it didn't catch the eye of the academy members. I wasn't even expecting a nod for Mila Kunis or Barbara Hershey, although I would have loved to have been surprised by that.

Surprise: John Hawkes manages to get a support actor nod for Winter's Bone, as the first creepy but later redeeming uncle of the main character.

Snub: Thus Andrew Garfield was shut out of the supporting actor race, although The Social Network still managed to get eight nominations, which is pretty good for a non-period piece.

Surprise: Joel and Ethan Coen snag a nod for best director. In fact, True Grit was rather warmly embraced with the second-most nominations (10). It's young star, Hailee Steinfield also received a nod in the supporting actress category, answering the question about whether the academy would consider her a lead or supporting player.

Snub: Despite it receiving eight nods, Inception's director, Christopher Nolan, was shut out of the directors' race.

Snub/surprise: Waiting for Superman was the year's most popular documentary, so I'm very surprised it didn't receive a nomination for documentary feature. Even its song "Shine" was on the possible list for best song and didn't make the cut.